John J Yeosock

Lt. Gen. JOHN J. YEOSOCK, commander of all Army forces in Operation Desert Storm, has been evacuated to Landstahl Army Hospital in Germany for surgery of an undisclosed nature, the U.S. command said. In a brief announcement, the command said Yeosock was expected to return to duty after treatment. Lt. Gen. Calvin Waller, deputy commander of Central Command, will assume command of 280,000 men in Yeosock's absence.

Lt. Gen. JOHN J. YEOSOCK, commander of all Army forces in Operation Desert Storm, has been evacuated to Landstahl Army Hospital in Germany for surgery of an undisclosed nature, the U.S. command said. In a brief announcement, the command said Yeosock was expected to return to duty after treatment. Lt. Gen. Calvin Waller, deputy commander of Central Command, will assume command of 280,000 men in Yeosock's absence.

December 21, 1990 | MELISSA HEALY and JOHN M. BRODER, TIMES STAFF WRITERS

Defense officials on Thursday sought to keep alive the threat of early military action in spite of an Army general's comments that the U.S. force facing Iraq would not be ready for a Jan. 15 offensive. Officials at the Pentagon and those traveling with Defense Secretary Dick Cheney in Saudi Arabia on Thursday pointed to an array of forces, including more than 2,000 combat aircraft, that will be in place and ready for war on Jan.

This week's Tours and Cruises column departs from the usual detailed listings to look at some of the newest cruise-ship itineraries for fall-winter 1991 and spring '92 sailings. Travel agents and the cruise lines themselves can provide more specific information on availability, dates and prices for the cruises discussed below.

In the darkness of the third night of the ground war, a platoon of U.S. combat engineers met the enemy. It was us. As American units wheeled and maneuvered to execute the huge flanking movement that was to encircle and destroy Iraqi ground forces, the fringes of two U.S. Army corps became entangled. An armored cavalry unit, spotting the combat engineers on its perimeter, grew convinced that they were Iraqis; the engineers thought the same of the cavalry.

Sometime in the next month, the Middle East may go up in flames. It will not be a war brought on by mistake or miscalculation. The conflagration will be the utterly predictable result of a series of deliberate and irrevocable steps over the last six months by President Bush and Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. It is relatively easy to envision how the war will begin. U.S.